Harry Potter - Series Fan Fiction ❯ Altered Destiny ❯ Diagon Alley ( Chapter 4 )

“Talking”

Thinking

§Scene Change§

â—ŠTelepathic Communicationâ—Š

A transition between AN, Review Responses, Dedications, and story

ϿAltered DestinyϾ

Chapter Four: Diagon Alley

After the strange events from the night before, the group slept peacefully. Everyone minus Sondra and the twins had arrived before they all fell asleep. When they had all awoken, Sondra was busy cooking breakfast for them.

They all smelled bacon, eggs and pancakes. They all began to get up groggily. Mitchell remained passed out and refused to return to the land of the living. So they all proceed to eat Breakfast, without much conversation. After wards they began packing up their belongings.

Once everything was all packed up they headed to Stoatshead Hill. Brittany was still unnerved about the Dark Mark. They passed Mr. Roberts, who gave a fuzzy “Merry Christmas.” A lasting mark of last night's events. Brittany shuddered. Harry reached for her hand and threaded his fingers through hers. He pulled her to his side.

“Everything is going to be just fine.” He reassured her.

Everyone proceed to look back and see what Mitchell's reaction was going to be. He was currently slung over his sister's shoulder fast asleep. Draco was seething, and Sondra surprisingly had a slightly pained look upon her face as well.

They took an old rubber tire back. They walked back through Ottery St. Catchpole. The trekked up the damp lane toward The Burrow in the morning light. There was very little conversation going on because they were exhausted.

“Oh thank goodness! Thank goodness!” Echoed through the trees as they rounded the corner.

Mrs. Weasley, who had evidently been waiting for them in the front yard, came running toward them. She was wearing her bedroom slippers, her face pale and strained. A rolled up copy of the Daily Prophet clutched in her hand.

“Arthur I've been so worried. So worried!” She flung her arms around Mr. Weasley's neck, and the Daily Prophet fell out of her limp hands. Harry saw that the title read `Scenes of Terror at the Quidditch World Cup' Mrs. Weasley looked up at all of there faces with red rimmed eyes. “You're alive…Oh boys…”

And to everyone's surprise, she seized Fred and George and pulled the both of them into such tight hugs that their heads banged together.

“Ouch! Mum… you're strangling us…”

Mr. Weasley pulled Molly away. “Bill,” he begun with an undertone, “Grab the paper. I would like to see what it says.”

Once everyone was packed into the tiny kitchen Brittany and Ginny did there best to calm Mrs. Weasley.

“We are perfectly okay, Mum.”

“Yeah, and none of us were anywhere near where the dark mark was conjured, Mrs. Weasley,” lied Brittany smoothly.

“Plus we all stayed close to Mitchell, Harry, or Sondra. Other than Bill, Charlie, Percy, and Dad, they are the safest people to be around.” This earned a nod from Brittany, a glare from Draco, and Mrs. Weasley snagged Mitchell, Sondra, and Harry into a bone crushing hug.

“You protected my babies!” wailed Mrs. Weasley. “You're all such sweet children. What would I do without you all? “

She was interrupted mid-rant by Mr. Weasley saying that he was going into work. He left to change his robes, followed closely by Percy who was going to do the same. “Arthur, you're on holiday! Surely they don't need you to come in,” protested Mrs. Weasley.

“I'm afraid so, Molly. I messed things up last night. I need to smooth things over,” replied Mr. Weasley. Mrs. Weasley looked most upset.

“Mrs. Weasley,” began Harry suddenly, unable to contain himself. “Hedwig hasn't arrived with a letter for me, has she?”

“Hedwig, dear,” repeated Mrs. Weasley distractedly. “No… no, there hasn't been any post all day.”

Mitchell, Draco, Ron, and Hermione were looking at him curiously. The two fox girls were both looking as if this was none of there business. With a meaningful look to all of them he said, “All right if I go and dump my stuff in your room, Ron?”

“Yeah… I think I'll go to,” replied Ron. The others followed behind all with excuses

While they were upstairs discussing the dream Harry had had before he had arrived at the Weasley's before the World Cup. Sondra was downstairs and had to deal with the hysterical Cathy. The likes of whom apparated just outside the second they left the kitchen.

The days passed and a week before they had to board the train to Hogwarts, the new fourth years, minus Sondra, the twins, and Ginny all gathered inside the Leaky Cauldron.

“Why the heck are we here?” wondered Draco grumpily.

“I know we don't even have our letters yet,” added Mitchell moodily.

“Sondra told us to wait for her.” Brittany explained.

“No one asked you!” Draco hissed.

“What crawled up your ass and died?” Brittany shot back.

“Hey you two, don't make a scene.” Ginny pleaded.

“It's none of your concern Fox, leave me alone!” Draco growled.

“Last name basis huh, Malfoy?” Brittany hissed back.

“Both of you be quiet!” Sondra yelled out from the fireplace.

Sondra walked out of the fireplace holding ten letters in her hands. She was glaring at Draco and Brittany for arguing. She passed out the letters to each person. Everyone looked through the list. Once they reached the last item they all looked confused.

“We are buying dress robes?” Harry inquired. “Why.”

“You need dress robes. You and Ron more than anything.” Sondra explained vaguely.

“This will be fun!” Brittany declared excited. “Let's go!”

Brittany grabbed Harry's hand and rushed off to get away from her pissy brother and friend. Sondra sighed and shook her head. The twins began dragging her off following Brittany's lead. Sondra managed to drag Draco along with her, because he was the closest person to grab. Mitchell sighed and motioned for Ginny, Ron, and Hermione to follow him.

Mitchell was feeling particularly depressed seeing his sister spending all her time with his friend. Ginny tried getting Mitchell to talk throughout the entire shopping trip, but only managed to get a few words out of him for the most part. When they went dress robe shopping, Ginny tried again.

“How about this one Mitchell?” Ginny asked.

Mitchell, Ron, and Hermione all looked up at Ginny. Ginny was clad in a skimpy red dress. It was trimmed in gold. The dress went only to her mid thighs and was strapless as well. Ginny was blushed bright red, looking extremely uncomfortable.

Mitchell's eyes widened a little, before Ron smacked him in the back of the head. Ron ran over towards his sister and pushed her back into the dressing rooms.

“Don't come out here looking like a whore. What would mum say?” Ron hissed.

“Oh come off it Ron. I was doing it to get a reaction out of Mitchell. Or did you not notice one of your best friends is depressed.” Ginny explained from inside the dressing room.

“I know, he is depressed because Brittany is spending most of her time with Harry.” Ron told her. “I'm not stupid.”

“Gee, could have fooled me.” Ginny snapped.

“Oh would you two grow up.” Hermione scolded. “You're acting like children.”

“Who cares? Let them do whatever they want.” Mitchell sighed dejectedly.

“How about this one?” Ginny asked.

Ginny stepped out in a black and blue dress. It was black with blue broidered vines and flowers. It also had a triangular slit of blue silk cloth instead on the silky blue. She smiled brightly, and the dress complimented her every curve.

“That's the one.” Hermione declared.

Walking out in a dress as well, she spun around for inspection. Her dress was a periwinkle blue princess strapless dress. There were silver flowers embroidered across the front. There was also a blue sash held up by a silver Celtic pin, around her waist. It was not too puffy and made her look elegant.

Ron's jaw dropped, but he hid it well. Mitchell looked up at Hermione and nodded his head. Hermione had found her dress. She walked back into the dressing room and changed back into normal clothes. Ginny followed suit. Both females paid for their dresses and left. Mitchell and Ron had already bought clothes while waiting for the females to pick a dress.

Sondra was off with the twins and Draco buying school supplies. After finishing everything on the list they left to go dress shopping as well. Draco had a particularly evil look in his eyes. Once they had arrived the twins set out finding the most revealing dresses they could find for Sondra, while Draco the most hideous.

Draco managed to hand a dress to Sondra first. It was a corset type strapless dress. Then flaring out at the hips it looked almost like a dome for legs. Sondra sighed and agreed to try on the dress.

Why not. She thought. I need to have some fun.

Sondra tried on the dress while the twins arrived with some of their own choices for her to try. They all awaited to see what she would look like, Draco with a smirk. Sondra finally game out. The dress was too short on her only reaching mid calf so her tennis shoes were showing. The dress was also a hideous puke green color.

“So what do you think?” Sondra asked in a cheery tone. She had decided to try a change of pace. She was a little tired of being the emotionless one. So throwing the boys for a loop would be a nice beginning.

Meanwhile Harry and Brittany were shopping together. The two had already passed a pissed off Mitchell earlier. His emotionless mask was dropped as soon as he saw Brittany holding Harry's hand, reminiscent of when Mitchell went shopping with her. The two went into the same dress shop as Sondra, the twins, and Draco.

Draco glared at Brittany and Harry. Their attention was on Sondra though. Brittany had to hold in a laugh, and Harry looked away because he felt bad for her. The twins looked slightly shocked but were holding up their own dresses.

Sondra suddenly burst out purposefully off-key “I feel pretty, oh so pretty. I feel pretty and witty and gay, and I pity any girl who isn't me today.”

Brittany lost it and began laughing. Her sister was in a good mood. She decided to tell her brother to make her feel better.

â—Š You have to come see this. Sondra is in the ugliest puke green dress, singing West Side Story's “I Feel Pretty.” â—Š

Brittany sighed when she did not get a response from her annoyed older brother. She looked at Sondra and made up her mind. Clapping her hands together she declared, “Alright Harry, find me some really hideous dresses to try on. I think I shall join my sister.”

With their minds made up, the following two hours were filled with musical songs and ugly dresses. From trampy to gothic they tried on almost the entire store. Brittany was beginning to tire of the fun, and she was also hungry. Sondra was still enjoying herself.

Before the final song was over Mitchell, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione walked into the shop. The sight they saw made them burst out in laughter. Brittany and Sondra were in slutty black dresses singing the Pie song from Sweeny Todd. This put a smile on Mitchell's expressionless face.

After the Song Brittany decided to try on one of the dresses she had been eyeing. It was a strapless, pastel pink gown. It had silver floral vines as trim around the bottom. On the right side it followed a top layer portion of the dress to the bodice. The top of the bodice was silver flowers with a little of the pastel pink.

When Brittany came out with it on there was a general silence. Everyone's faces were awed at how she looked. The pale dress brought out her eyes, which seemed to shine a little bit.

Brittany's fingers fidgeted with the fabric self-consciously. “What?”

“You look amazing,” commented Harry.

“Beautiful,” added Draco.

“Gorgeous,” finished Mitchell.

Brittany blushed, “I'm just going to change now.” She said before retreating back into the dressing room. No one notice that Sondra, eyes averted and fingers in her ears, went in her own search for a dress. Seeing as how she'd only not tried on about five it wasn't hard for her to choose.

Once Brittany had changed her head down, she shyly made her way the counter to pay. The entire time she kept her eye down and a slight blush stained her cheeks. Heading for the door, she got her foot caught on her dress and fell.

Harry was the first to jump to help her up. But before he could reach her, she had run from the store, still slightly stooped. Running after her Harry managed to reach the girl a few stores down.

“Are you alright?” asked Harry concerned.

“I'm fine.” replied Brittany, her face a deep shade of crimson. “Let's just go home.” Hand in hand, Brittany and Harry unknowingly led the Weasley's, Mitchell, Draco, and Hermione back to the Leaky Cauldron.

Back at the shop Sondra was staring at herself in the mirror. Her fingers ran over the blood red silk. A single strap over her right shoulder, held the airy material on her body. Black satin, flowering vines grew from the hem that pooled slightly at the floor. At the center of each flower was a tiny pearl.

Behind her the head of her constant companion, a black cat, poked itself out of her bag. “What do you think, Midnight?” she asked the cat. Green eyes looked at the human critically before nodding. “Of course our tailor would have to fit it properly.” The girl tugged at the excess material at her waist.

The sound of the others was fading and both cat and girl seemed to sigh in relief. They liked people fine but the strange group can be a little over the top lately. Sondra changed, paid for the dress, and gave the glaring clerk a generous tip before leaving in the opposite direction of the others.